Games of chance, and particularly betting games, must have certain attributes to make them attractive to players. Ideally, such games should have reasonable odds only slightly in favor of the house or bank. Further, such games should. be easy to learn, understand, and play. Such games should also be exciting for all of those playing, and ideally pit each player against the house as opposed to against each other. Games with a large potential jackpot or top payout are certainly more exciting than those with a relatively small maximum payout.
Clearly, however, such games of chance must also have certain attributes to make them attractive to the house. Such games must have a suitable house advantage, and preferably a relatively small cycle time between rounds of betting so that more rounds of the game can be played in any given period of time. Such games must be easy to administrate, learn, and play. Further, such games should attract a large number of players per table, and allow for excitement to build as a player does progressively better. The equipment for such games must be easy to maintain and is preferably inexpensive to manufacture.
The most popular casino betting games have all of these attributes to varying degrees. For example, blackjack, or 21, is a game that can attract up to seven players per table, is relatively simple to administrate, utilizes an inexpensive deck of cards and a screenprinted felt tabletop that is easy to maintain or replace, and provides relatively quick cycle time between rounds of betting. The house advantage for blackjack varies with the strategy used by each player, but is always slightly in favor of the house. However, the maximum payout on any particular original bet of $1 is only $1.50, or 1.5 to 1. As such, only so much excitement can be generated by blackjack, and one usually does not observe large excited crowds huddled around the blackjack table.
Considering roulette, the maximum payout is 35 to 1, which is over twenty times that of blackjack and therefore more exciting to many people. However, the roulette wheel itself is relatively expensive to purchase and maintain, typically $6,000, and the average cycle time per round is relatively high. Further, roulette only builds excitement for a short time, that is, when the ball is just about to land in the roulette wheel.
Craps is a game that can generate a tremendous amount of excitement among the players and nearby observers. Such excitement is due, in part, to the fact that other players are betting on the chance outcome of a pair of dice thrown by another of the players. As such, there tends to be a higher degree of supportive vocalization from the players not throwing the dice. Sometimes loud commotion from the players often results in the craps tables being jammed to capacity. Further, the rules in craps allow for the excitement to build as the player continues to roll the dice. On the downside, craps is a fairly difficult game to learn, understand, and play, and as a result is not appreciated by many gamblers. Further, the maximum payouts for craps are not nearly as high as, for example, roulette.
Several dice games are taught in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,508 to Wood on Jan. 26, 1982 teaches a die game that is administered by a dealer and allows for a number of players simultaneously. Other dice games are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,938 to Gray on Jan. 13, 1987; U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,559 to Page on Jul. 28, 1992; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,114 to Carroll on Jan. 27, 1981. While such prior art games have several of the advantages listed above, none have all of the advantages.
Clearly, then, there is a need for a dice game that allows for a continual building of excitement from the players and attracts a large number of players and observers. Such a needed game would have reasonable odds, and would be easy to learn, understand, and play. Such a needed game would also be exciting for all of those playing, and would pit each player against the house as opposed to against each other. Such a game would have a relatively large potential top payout for added excitement. Preferably, such a game would have a relatively small cycle time between rounds so that more rounds of the game can be played in any given period of time. The game would be easy to administrate and require relatively few decisions on the part of the player. Further, the equipment for such a game must be easy to maintain and is preferably inexpensive to manufacture. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages.